Prof. McBagonluri reflects on leadership lessons at Mandela Washington Fellowship Conference
By: Nana Kwame Bediako At the Mandela Washington Fellowship 10th anniversary conference, Prof. Fred McBagonluri, President of Academic City University, provided profound insights into the essence of leadership. Drawing from personal experiences, Prof. McBagonluri captivated the audience with an engaging narrative that underscored the challenging yet rewarding nature of true leadership. “Leadership is not easy. […]
By: Nana Kwame Bediako
At the Mandela Washington Fellowship 10th anniversary conference, Prof. Fred McBagonluri, President of Academic City University, provided profound insights into the essence of leadership. Drawing from personal experiences, Prof. McBagonluri captivated the audience with an engaging narrative that underscored the challenging yet rewarding nature of true leadership.
“Leadership is not easy. If it were, all the issues we’ve discussed so far would have been resolved,” Prof. McBagonluri stated. Illustrating his point, he recounted his early days in the United States back in 1991. Freshly arrived and faced with the demands of friends asking him to buy them Walkmans, he found his first job at Lee’s Chicken, earning $4.25 an hour. The experience was humbling and became a crucible for his understanding of leadership.
Narrating a pivotal moment, Prof. McBagonluri described an encounter with his 16-year-old manager during his first week. Exhausted and feeling disrespected when the young manager instructed him to keep working even during a lull, he was initially indignant. “In Ghana, we expect to be respected, everyone is a prince or a king,” he reflected.
Prof. McBagonluri further shared four crucial leadership lessons from this experience. Firstly, he mentioned that anger can be destructive. “If you can’t manage your temper and expect people to treat you the way you would like, you’ll run into trouble sooner or later,” he advised. Secondly, he stated that we do not get to choose our managers, just as we cannot choose our parents. Success, therefore, depends on turning a boss into a strategic partner rather than an adversary.
Quitting, he noted, comes naturally as a fight or flee response. However, he learned resilience through persistence. “Never stand still. Keep your feet moving,” he emphasised, echoing Nelson Mandela’s wisdom of continually moving forward. This pivotal lesson shaped his approach to navigating corporate America and beyond.
In reflecting on these experiences, Prof. McBagonluri provided the Mandela Washington Fellowship audience with a vivid and personal roadmap to understanding and embodying leadership. His message resonated with the audience, reminding all present that enduring and impactful leadership is a journey of growth, humility, and relentless persistence.
What's Your Reaction?
